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Hillary Clinton Suggests the Minimum Wage is a Local Issue
Hillary Clinton. (Marc Nozell / (CC BY 2.0))
While she has declined to say what she thinks is the ideal national minimum wage, the Democratic presidential candidate has implied that it might differ from place to place—and thus would not push for an increase if she were president.
The Guardian reports:
“I support the local efforts that are going on that are making it possible for people working in certain localities to actually earn $15,” Clinton said in a response to a question from a BuzzFeed News reporter on Thursday while campaigning in New Hampshire.
“I think part of the reason that the Congress and very strong Democratic supporters of increasing the minimum wage are trying to debate and determine what’s the national floor is because there are different economic environments. And what you can do in Los Angeles or in New York may not work in other places.”
Democrats in Congress have put forward proposals in the House and the Senate to raise the federally mandated minimum wage to $12 an hour by 2020. The federal minimum wage has been $7.25 since July 2009. While she has previously said that US wages need to be higher, Clinton has not yet revealed whether she is more inclined to support a national minimum wage of $12 an hour that of $15 an hour.
Among those opposing raising the federal minimum wage are businesses big and large. As she has campaigned the past few months, more than once Clinton has said she wants to be a small-business president, and referring the issue of minimum wage increases to local government could be just the way to win them over.
Read more.
—Posted by Alexander Reed Kelly.
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Source: http://www.truthdig.com/eartotheground/item/hillary_clinton_suggests_the_minimum_wage_is_a_local_issue_20150719/
